Superman: Unbound (2013) Animated Movie Thread

[Lencho01]

http://collider.com/superman-unbound-review/

SUPERMAN: UNBOUND Review

by Dave Trumbore Posted: March 29th, 2013 at 10:26 pm

Anaheim’s WonderCon 2013 played host to the world premiere of Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment’s Superman: Unbound. Directed by DC veteran and new supervisor of DC’s animation James Tucker (Legion of Super Heroes), Superman: Unbound was adapted by Bob Goodman (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Parts 1 and 2) from Geoff Johns’ five-part comic book arc, Superman: Brainiac. The story centers on Superman (voiced by Matt Bomer) and his battle against Brainiac (voiced by John Noble) who is attempting to learn what he can from Earth and its intelligent life before destroying the planet. Also highlighted in Superman: Unbound are the relationships of Superman/Clark Kent with his secret girlfriend Lois Lane (voiced by Stana Katic) and his recently-arrived cousin Kara/Supergirl (voiced by Molly C. Quinn).

Though Tucker’s version makes some changes from the original comic arc that may displease some fans, Superman: Unbound was pure Saturday morning animated fun. The animation is bold, bright and unafraid to splash a little blood here and there. Superman: Unbound, which will be available on Blu-ray/DVD/VOD on May 7th, is rated PG-13 for violence, action and a rude gesture (which elicited a great crowd reaction). DC Entertainment continues its great track record of animated fare with this newest installment. Hit the jump for my review.



With the exception of The Dark Knight Trilogy, live-action DC films have struggled a bit in recent years. Thankfully their animated contributions have been more consistent, both in their regular intervals of arrival and in their quality. Superman: Unbound continues this trend as a big and bold throwback to Saturday morning cartoons. The heroes are burly, the women are slender yet busty (and scantily clothed whether they have a speaking part of not) and the action scenes keep the adrenaline pumping. The straightforward story takes a little bit of license with the source material and changes the ending, which may come as a slight to comic purists but should be more than adequate for viewers just looking to enjoy a Superman flick.

The movie opens with an extended credit sequence that shows the creation of the villainous Brainiac, an alien who enhances his mind and body with technology and rampages throughout the universe attacking planets with sentient life in order to assimilate their knowledge. Having done so, he destroys their planet to insure that he alone retains the information. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Superman is busy saving Lois Lane yet again, though this time he gets a hand from an adolescent Supergirl. It all seems to be what you expect on the surface, but it’s soon revealed to be a bit more complex than that. Lois, who allowed herself to be captured in order to uncover some information, gets on Clark’s case for hiding their relationship from co-workers at the Daily Planet and for Superman’s overprotective nature. Superman also hears it from his younger cousin Kara who is dealing with her new-found powers in addition to living life as a teenage girl. Before long, Superman is almost thanking Brainiac for starting trouble so he has an excuse to travel off-world.



While Goodman and Tucker have managed to round out Lois and Kara’s characters as more than just a “damsel in distress” or “Superman in a short skirt,” there is an overtone of sexuality throughout the picture. Usually it’s in the form of a joke here or there, such as a co-worker hitting on Lois and hinting that he thinks Clark is gay. The most obvious presence of sexual stereotypes is in the design of the characters themselves, but like I said, Superman: Unbound is a definite throwback to older comics and cartoons. It’s not necessarily demeaning in any way, but it’s an unfortunate aspect of a story that otherwise paints Lois as feisty and capable, with Supergirl getting an arc that allows her to develop as a character and play more than just Supe’s sidekick.

The voice-acting in Superman: Unbound is spot on. Bomer plays a perfect Superman from the outset and Quinn is perfectly suited to voice a Supergirl who ranges all up and down the emotional spectrum. Katic provides great sass to Lois. Noble surprised me with how well his voice matched up with Brainiac’s bigger-than-life presence on screen, especially since I still hear the 64-year-old actor as Fringe‘s Dr. Walter Bishop.

What would any Superman movie be without copious amounts of action and fight scenes? Superman: Unbound definitely does not disappoint in this department. The Last Son of Krypton gets to level up his opponents over the course of the movie, starting off with your common mercenary riffrraff and then graduating to Brainiac’s drones and eventually Brainiac himself. Fights take place everywhere from Metropolis to outerspace to Brainiac’s ship and even in Kandor, the former capital city of Krypton (though I won’t tell you how he got there). The settings are as varied as the sequences themselves. The action never gets stale and rarely takes a breath at all unless it’s to let Superman’s relationships develop a bit more over the course of the story.



Again, the creative team behind Superman: Unbound chose to take a different tack on the ending of their picture versus that of Johns’ comic arc, so I’m curious to see how fan’s receive it. As someone who wasn’t familiar with the Brainiac arc, I found Superman: Unbound to be an enjoyable 75 minutes of animated comic book fun. Be sure check it out on Blu-ray/DVD/VOD starting May 7th, where you’ll also be treated to a ten-minute behind-the-scenes making of DC Entertainment’s next animated film: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. Also, be sure to stick around for the post-credits scene which hints at events that may be following Superman: Unbound.

Rating: A-

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Sounds excellent.

I must get my pre-order in soon.

 

[flickchick85]

A couple of other reviews:

It's a solid film. Bomer isn't doing that annoying breathy ain't-I-sexy thing he does on White Collar, and he thus he makes a pretty good Superman. Katic is a fun firecracker as Lois, who does something in this film I never expected to see in an animated Superman movie, taking full advantage of being PG-13. Brainiac's attacks are very bloody, and part of the rating includes a "rude gesture." It's perfectly timed and a fun surprise, and it's why Lois Lane is awesome and should have her own comic series. Noble's Brainiac is the right amount of ominously creepy, but with a bit more humanity to him rather than that cold, robotic mode we usually see him in. He's a little more supervillainy, a bit more prone to arrogant posturing. There are also some weirdly jarring anime-style fighty pose shots that feel a bit out of place, and while I tend to enjoy watching these animated films, and this one certainly has a bit of a different feel than the Superman films that came before it, they rarely seem to be exciting enough that I would ever bother watching them a second time. Maybe that's just me being an old fuddy-duddy for no discernible reason. I liked it. It's worth a watch.

http://www.craveonline.com/comics/reviews/471243-wondercon-review-superman-unbound

While Unbound uses a storyline right from the comics, it was less adapted panel by panel and more so embellished upon and expanded in order to fill an entire run time for a movie release. The problem with this is that the original comic was straight to the point and concise, adding the extra storylines into it all takes away some of the focus from the main story. It definitely feels artificially extended and the parts that are not part of the main storyline feel a bit too slow and unneeded.

Overall Superman: Unbound is an interesting film. It is in no way the weakest entry in the DC Animated Universe lineup, but falls very short from being up there with Batman: Under the Red Hood and the recent Batman: The Dark Knight Returns releases.

http://comicsonline.com/2013/03/wondercon-2013-superman-unbound-review/


Can we get a Kingdom Come, Red Son or Birthright adaptation now? With the 2-parter treatment TDKR got? Pretty please? Brainiac was far from the most exciting choice of storylines they could have chosen, imo. I mean, I liked it, but at no point did I think, "man, I'd kill to see this as a movie." Are there elements of it I'd love to see in the live-action Supes franchise? Hell yeah. But the story by itself was awfully thin to adapt on its own, imo. Batman's getting his most epic stories adapted, but why not Supes? All-Star could have counted as one if it had gotten the 2-parter treatment, but alas...

 

[Lencho01]

http://collider.com/superman-unbound-panel-recap-wondercon/

WonderCon 2013: SUPERMAN: UNBOUND Panel Recap – Q&A with Director James Tucker, Writer Bob Goodman & Voice Actors Matt Bomer and Molly Quinn

by Dave Trumbore Posted: March 29th, 2013 at 11:09 pm

After the world premiere screening of Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment’s Superman: Unbound, the cast and creative team behind the animated feature took the stage at WonderCon 2013 to field some questions. Included on the panel were director James Tucker (Legion of Super Heroes), writer Bob Goodman (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Parts 1 and 2), renowned voice casting director Andrea Romano (Batman: The Animated Series) and voice actors Matt Bomer (Magic Mike) and Molly C. Quinn (Castle). While the new DC feature was obviously at the forefront of the questions, the panel did reveal some information about upcoming projects coming out of DC. Hit the jump for a recap of the Q&A and check out my review of the movie here.



After the screening, the panel was moderated by publicist Gary Miereanu, who pointed out that Tucker recently took over the reins from Bruce Timm as the supervisor of DC’s animated slate. Timm will be developing original material in his time away. Meanwhile Tucker will be focusing on bringing out more characters in the DC universe with three films planned for release in 2014. The next DC animated film will be Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, which may make an appearance at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con in some form or another.
Here are some of the highlights from tonight’s panel Q&A:

• Goodman, who has been writing for DC animation for the better part of the last two decades, actually wrote Superman: Unbound before writing both installments of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
• Though Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was too dense even for a two-parter, Superman: Unbound required a bit more fleshing out, so Goodman added subplots for Clark Kent with Lois Lane and Superman with Supergirl.
• Bomer, who is also a fan of Thundercats and Nightwing, loved playing the iconic role and revealed that he wore out his Superman cape as a little kid.
• 
• Bomer brought a physical component to the voice-acting role and aimed to create his own version of Superman rather than worrying about previous iterations.
• Romano called Bomer’s casting “pitch perfect,” worked with Quinn on Ben-10: Ultimate Alien and spoke quite highly of John Noble’s work, calling him “incredibly elegant and wonderful…[a] remarkable performance; rich and deep and full and certainly not one note.”
• Noble voiced the film’s antagonist, Brainiac, but also Brainiac’s ship, though his voice was slightly altered in an electronic fashion.
• Quinn said it was pretty easy to relate to Supergirl, who is connected with a strong sense of right and wrong, and had fun playing a teenager who can fly.
• Tucker spoke on the process of adapting Geoff Johns’ comic arc Superman: Brainiac and commented on changing the visual style, saying “Why draw a caricature of Christopher Reeves when you have Matt Bomer?”
• 
• When asked why they changed the title and the ending, Miereanu said there were some licensing issues while Goodman admitted to being asked by execs to make specific changes. The original intent was to leave an ambiguous ending to the film for a possibility of following it up with the New Krypton storyline. Other suggested titles they threw around were: Lost City of Metropolis and Flesh and Metal.
• When asked about a conclusion to Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Miereanu said, “Anything is possible.” He had the same response to a question about Superman: Red Son, though Tucker said that it’s “definitely on my wish list.”
• Goodman spoke to his version of Lois Lane, saying, “[She's] one of the best characters ever…the strongest character in this movie.”
• Quinn likes Supergirl but her favorite comic book character is Poison Ivy, because she “likes being bad.”
• The last question of the night asked when The Riddler would be featured again. Miereanu guaranteed that fans would see The Riddler by 2015, though he didn’t elaborated in what capacity. Goodman confessed that The Riddler stories are among the hardest to write.

Superman: Unbound will be available on Blu-ray/DVD/VOD starting May 7th and will include a special ten-minute behind-the-scenes making of DC Entertainment’s next animated feature: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

 

[Binker]

On the ending they said they changed: are they referring to New Krypton, or the death of Pa Kent?

 

[Sub-Zero]

the dcau, aside from stas, has pa kent already dead. theyve kept it that way since superman:doomsday. i highly doubt he's in the movie.

 

[Binker]

the dcau, aside from stas, has pa kent already dead. theyve kept it that way since superman:doomsday. i highly doubt he's in the movie.

...umm....

STAS-JL/JLU, Pa Kent was alive. He was dead in Superman Doomsday, and All-Star Superman; but he was alive in Superman vs. The Elite and Superman/Batman Apocalypse. All of this makes sense, since neither of these movies are in the same universe (with the exception of the Superman/Batman movies). So he would have to be in the movie, unless he isn't and they have a good reason. Its if he doesn't die that makes me wonder if that's the change they are talking about, or is it the New Krypton connection.

Sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Kevin Smith]

REALLY am anxious to see the Flashpoint feature on here, more so than the movie itself. Details of that ASAP, please!

I wonder if Unbound is better or just as good as Doomsday. I liked All Star Superman a lot.

 

[Sawyer]

REALLY am anxious to see the Flashpoint feature on here, more so than the movie itself. Details of that ASAP, please!

I wonder if Unbound is better or just as good as Doomsday. I liked All Star Superman a lot.

Based on what we've seen, I'd bet on better. Doomsday didn't do it for me. They took a great and LONG story and condensed it into a 70 minute movie. No good.

 

[BH/HHH]

Cannot freaking wait for this

 

[Franny]

I'm more hyped to see the preview of "Flashpoint." Seriously!

 

[Lencho01]

http://collider.com/matt-bomer-superman-unbound-interview/

Matt Bomer Talks SUPERMAN: UNBOUND, Getting to Voice Superman, and More at WonderCon 2013

by Christina Radish Posted: April 1st, 2013 at 8:10 am

Based on the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank 2008 DC Comics release “Superman: Brainiac,” Superman: Unbound is the latest DC universe animated original movie from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The story is about a destructive force that is devastating planets across the galaxy, with Earth next in its sights, and even Superman may not be capable of halting the destruction alone. The film features the voices of Matt Bomer (White Collar) as Superman, John Noble (Fringe) as Brainiac, Molly Quinn (Castle) as Supergirl, and Stana Katic (Castle) as Lois Lane. For more on the movie, here’s Dave’s review and our WonderCon panel recap.

While at WonderCon, actor Matt Bomer, who is quite obviously a longtime Superman fan, spoke at a roundtable interview about the first time he imagined himself as a superhero, what he wanted to bring to the iconic role, who he thinks this film will appeal to, why Superman is still relevant after all these years, and how he’d also love the chance to play Nightwing. Check out what he had to say after the jump.



Question: When was the first time in your life that you imagined yourself as Superman?

MATT BOMER: I think I was five or six. My mom made me a homemade cape for Halloween, one year. First, I was a Superboy to my brother’s Superman ‘cause whatever superhero he was, I was either the lesser version of it or the sidekick. So, when he was Batman, I was Robin. When he was Superman, I was Superboy. But, like any four-year-old, it played very heavily into my psychology. And I think that’s what makes the character resonate for so long, with so many people. He’s who we hope we could be, in the most dire of circumstances. But, my mom made me a homemade cape, and I wore that thing out for two years. I didn’t even care. I had no shame about it. I would strap it on. It had a snap. I’d get on my bike and just let it trail behind me. People would laugh. I didn’t give a damn. I was Superman! Now, I’m the voice of Superman.

How did you wrap your head around this role? What did you want to carry over from other interpretations, and how did you want to make it your own thing?

BOMER: That’s a good question. The character is so iconic to everyone, and not just guys. I think every guy and girl would love to get to play Superman, at some point in their life. Am I right, girls? You can’t help but have all those incarnations, especially if you’re a fan of the character, in the back of your head. But, you can become so busy with that, that it distracts you from the story at hand. All you really have to work with is the script that you’re given, and you don’t want to get too sidetracked on, “Oh, but in 1937, he was more like this.” You just have that story. So, I tried to keep up some of the consistencies of the characters that are maintained throughout every incarnation of the story, and then just deal with the script that we were given. In this particular story, it’s a very mature Superman that we’re seeing. He’s always dealing with weighty issues, but he’s very paternal towards Supergirl, he’s very protective of Lois and he’s also having to deal with Braniac, who is a very intense adversary. So, I tried to balance the heavier, more mature version of him with a lighter, fun, more charming sense of playfulness with Lois, in our scenes.

If you had to talk to your fans of your on-camera work, who have never seen an animated feature, what would you say to them to convince them to give this a shot?

BOMER: Well, I think anybody who likes Superman will love the story. The creative team behind it is fantastic. I think it’s a great, new take, in some ways, on the character and the story, and I think it will appeal to a lot of different audiences. So, there’s no reason not to give it a shot, really. If you don’t like Superman, something’s wrong with you!



Who was your Superman as a kid? Was it Christopher Reeve?

BOMER: Yeah. First, it was the comic. I remember, distinctly, a puzzle that I had, that my mom had gotten me, where he was battling a gorilla, that I still have. Nerd! And then, the first film version, obviously, was the first Christopher Reeve film. And then, I followed it through that whole franchise.

Visually, there’s always the glasses for Clark Kent to differentiate him from Superman. But here, all you have is your voice.

BOMER: All you have is your voice. It’s pretty naked and cold in there, baby.

Did you have that moment where you were like, “I’ve got to change my pitch a little bit”?



BOMER: Yeah, totally. Yes, is the short answer to that, and the truthful answer. The good part of it is that you get to show up to work in your pajamas, if you want, and a lot of this more external aspects of filmmaking, you get to toss by the wayside. But, the more challenging part is that all you have to convey character and emotion is your voice. We recorded it first, and then they animated it. And then, we went back and changed lines and fine-tuned things. So, it was interesting to see. You record something ahead of time, and then it ends up that that was actually a close-up, so screaming it wasn’t so great, so we’d have to change it. But, (dialogue director) Andrea [Romano] is such a legend. She was such an integral part of my childhood. If you IMDB her, you’ll know what I’m saying. So, it was very challenging in terms of that, and I wanted to take it very seriously because I knew that this was a character that people had so many preconceived notions about. I relied pretty heavily on her to shepherd me through it. And I got really into it, in the fight scenes. I didn’t realize that you didn’t really have to throw punches and kicks, so they laughed at me. They got a couple good laughs at me, in the sound booth, but I wanted to bring my best to it.

Did you find that being physical helped affect your voice?

BOMER: In some ways, yeah, especially in the fight scenes. But, what I realized is that you still really have to use every part of yourself, and be even more expressive with your voice. There were times when I had to give more than usual, and there were times where I had to give less. I was cutting my teeth on something new, so I was just learning on the fly.



For you, why is Superman still relevant, after all these years?

BOMER: Well, he’s the first superhero. He represents what we all hope we could be, in the most difficult circumstances. He represents our best self and the best version of us. Outside of, as a kid, just wanting to be able to fly and run faster than a speeding locomotive and being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, we’d like to hope that, when push comes to shove, we can do the right thing. I think as long as there is that hope in our society and in the zeitgeist of superheroes, Superman will be relevant.

So now that you finally gotten to play Superman, is there any other character that you would like to play? I think you’d make an excellent Nightwing.

BOMER: That’s what I was going to say! You took the words right out of my mouth. I’m just putting it out there. You heard it here first.

Do you keep up with all the comic books now?

BOMER: I try. My life’s pretty busy these days. I’m more of a graphic novel guy, but I try when I can.

Superman: Unbound will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, OnDemand and for download on May 7th.

 

[Doc Ock]

Excellent article, Bomer reads comics(or tries too)!

 

[Kevin Smith]

I'm more hyped to see the preview of "Flashpoint." Seriously!

Definitely.

 

[Kevin Smith]

And I like Matt Bomer. Seems like a nice guy.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I love Matt Bomer.

 

[BH/HHH]

Matt Bomer is awesome, glad he's finally gotten his wish

 

[Jake Cassidy]

The two most popular fan favourites are playing Superman in the same year. That's pretty cool.

 

[Kevin Smith]

The two most popular fan favourites are playing Superman in the same year. That's pretty cool.

I was just thinking that. That's pretty awesome. Didn't Bomer do a commercial once in the Superman Returns outfit? I think they made the right choice with Cavill for live action (so far).

 

[Lencho01]

I was just thinking that. That's pretty awesome. Didn't Bomer do a commercial once in the Superman Returns outfit? I think they made the right choice with Cavill for live action (so far).

Yeah, he did...

[YT]ZdZbgUSFskU[/YT]

[YT]jSRCVDecT3k[/YT]

I'm kinda surprised no one asked him about Ratner's Superman or MOS.

 

[Young Superman]

The Superman character design for Superman in this is amazing.

 

[Lencho01]

http://collider.com/andrea-romano-superman-unbound-interview/

WonderCon 2013: Dialogue Director Andrea Romano Talks SUPERMAN: UNBOUND, What Matt Bomer Brings to the Superman Role, John Noble’s Brainiac, and More

by Christina Radish Posted: April 2nd, 2013 at 12:15 pm

Based on the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank 2008 DC Comics release “Superman: Brainiac,” Superman: Unbound is the latest DC universe animated original movie from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The story is about a destructive force that is devastating planets across the galaxy, with Earth next in its sights, and even Superman may not be capable of halting the destruction alone. The film features the voices of Matt Bomer (White Collar) as Superman, John Noble (Fringe) as Brainiac, Molly Quinn (Castle) as Supergirl, and Stana Katic (Castle) as Lois Lane. For more on the movie, here’s Dave’s review and our WonderCon panel recap.

While at WonderCon, eight-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue director Andrea Romano (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) spoke at a roundtable about what actor Matt Bomer brought to the role of Superman, what all of the actors voicing Superman have had in common with their performances, what she looks for when an actor is voicing Lois Lane, what made John Noble the perfect actor to voice Brainiac, what makes a great voice actor, the advice she gives actors the first time they go into the voice booth, and how long it usually takes to record the voices for her projects. Check out what she had to say after the jump.



Question: What did Matt Bomer bring to Superman that was different from previous incarnations?

ANDREA ROMANO: Everybody brings their own twist to it. It’s actually hard to sometimes identify, specifically, what it is. It has to do with their own specific view of what they think Superman is and what they think Clark Kent is. There’s a vocal quality. Because you’ve typically got a Superman with a pretty good-sized set of shoulders and a very small waist, you have to worry about what that physically sounds like. Does that sound like a big deep voice? We reserve that more for Batman. Superman can have a somewhat lighter voice. What Matt brings to it is a youth. There’s a youth to his voice that’s very appropriate for this particular piece.

Matt Bomer has actually gotten close to playing Superman in real life, and has a bit of a physical resemblance to the character. Is that just a coincidence?

ROMANO: It is! It’s purely a coincidence. I don’t deal with their physical being. I really don’t. I listen to what their voice really sounds like. We’ve gossiped and brain-stormed together about who would be fun as Superman and who would be good, and then we would start mentioning names. You think of someone and you go, “Okay, I know who that actor is. What does his voice really sound like, when you put that voice away from the physicality of that actor?” So, I had to listen to some of Matt’s interviews and some of his work without looking at him and go, “That voice is great! That voice works exactly right for what we’re doing.” So, in casting for animation, you have to separate their physicality from their voices.

What’s the through-line for all the Superman voices that you’ve worked with? What do they have in common?

ROMANO: There’s got to be a strength and, at the same time, there has to be a vulnerability, where you feel like this is not just an alien, but actually someone with human emotions and feelings and a sensitivity. I think that’s really important. Just to make another superhero comparison, I don’t think Batman has as much emotions on the surface. He hides them better. Superman is a little more overt about them. He actually expresses the way he feels about things. I think that’s maybe the biggest difference.



What about Lois Lane? What do you look for, when an actor is voicing that role?

ROMANO: You have to be careful in finding a voice for Lois, so that the strength is there, but she’s still a likable character. She is an investigative reporter, so she’s used to asking the hard questions, trying to get what she needs. And she’s a really tough woman. There’s got to be a vulnerability and a femininity that Clark Kent and Superman react to. So, it’s always about trying to find an actress whose got that quality to her voice and that acting ability. Stana Katic is just excellent at that. Wait until you see how good she is. She’s great!

How did you go about deciding how Brainiac would sound?

ROMANO: The truth of it is that I had met John Noble at Comic-Con, at one of the Warner Bros. parties about three years ago. I said, “I would love for you to come and play on one of these DC universe projects.” And he said, “I’d be delighted to come. It’d be really fun.” So, I was just looking for something for him. When the role of Brainiac came up, I was like, “I’ve got a role for John Noble, finally.” And what was so great about John was that he had really good ideas himself. That’s what you want. You don’t want to bring an actor in and force them into a performance. You want their input. You want their creative thoughts. And he had lots of nice, fun ideas. So together, we came up with what that voice would sound like. The trick, of course, was to make sure that he wasn’t doing his native Australian accent. We always have to fight away from that. And he’s really good at doing an American accent. That’s just one of those things where you go, “I don’t think we can make it really specific where Brainiac comes from on planet Earth. We have to have an identifiable accent, or no accent at all.”



How is this version of Supergirl different from the Summer Glau version?

ROMANO: The truth of it is that you don’t want to repeat yourself, either as a director, a producer or an organization. You want to continually grow and do things and find things that are continually interesting, so it does makes sense to cast different people sometimes. The truth of it is that there are some that I would never recast. I would always use Kevin Conroy as Batman, if they would let me. But, my directive comes from DC Comics, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video. They sometimes say, ‘Because the art style is going to be different and because the story is so different, we want a different Batman, this time.” But, my first question always is, “Can I use Kevin Conroy? Can I use Mark Hamill? Can I use Tim Daly?” And then, based on what the material is, we make a decision as to whether or not that’s the best choice.

Was there any role that you felt was tough to cast?

ROMANO: Not with this. These roles were all pretty straight-forward. There is one character that speaks Korean in it, and I had to find an actor who could speak Korean. Every once in awhile I have that challenge because I want and need it to be real.

Do you have any cute anecdotes about this particular cast?



ROMANO: I do have one really cute story. Jimmy Olsen is played by Alexander Gould, who you may know from Weeds. He was the youngest son on Weeds. I had been watching Weeds, so he came to mind and I thought, “Oh, let me bring him in. He’s so great. He’s got such a great voice.” His voice had just changed which we all heard during the production of Weeds. We heard him grow up. And his age was just right. So, as I always do when I bring actors in who I haven’t worked with before, I bring them up to the microphone and chat with them and warm them up, and I just want them to feel comfortable. I said to him, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m delighted to have you here. Have you ever done voices for animation before?” And he looks at me with those big eyes and goes, “I’m Nemo.” And I went, “Oh, my lord, I should be thrown out of the industry for not knowing that you were Nemo!” I love that role! He’s so good as Nemo. But, of course, you wouldn’t recognize the voice because it’s a completely different voice now. That’s what happens when guys change their voice through puberty.

Has it just been a coincidence that so many of the voice actors in the DC universe have worked with Nathan Fillion?



ROMANO: Well, the thing is that Joss Whedon is my casting guru. He has such an eye for talent, so I pretty much look at whatever he is working on. At this point, with the exception of maybe one actor, I’ve used everybody from the Firefly cast. I have cast every single person. They’re all just so very, very good. Nathan just tends to work with really cool people, who are people that seem to know this world, and I just bring them into it and they’re great. Wait until you hear Molly Quinn as Supergirl. She’s so good! And she’s so good on Castle. Their energy together is so good. I had hired Molly before, on a series, called Ben 10, that I was directing. So, when this role came up, I was like, “I know who can do this. I know who’s got that nice, youthful quality, who can act it, but also can give that strength.” Supergirl has got to have some strength, even though it’s got to have the youthfulness. Oftentimes, when you find an actress that can give you that strength, the voice becomes mature. They equate strength with deepening the voice. You have to keep that youth without losing the strength.

When it comes to discovering the talent that you want to work with, do you literally sit at home and watch TV and listen to various actors? Does that also happen when you’re out in regular life and you hear people talking and think they’d be good for a role?



ROMANO: I hear the voice and I appreciate the voice, but so much of voice acting is the acting aspect. There have been so many people who have come to me with really interesting, beautiful, unusual, quirky voices that just can’t act. So, whenever actors or wannabe actors ask me, ‘What should I do to be a voice-over actor,” I always say, “Take an acting class first. Learn how to act. Learn the terminology. Then, deal with the voice-acting aspect of it.” I listen to voices, all the time. Even when I’m on the phone, I’ll be talking to somebody, even if they’re a phone solicitor, and go, “Can I identify that accent? How old do I think that person is?” And then, of course, there’s those people that you always listen to, specifically females usually, where you hear their voice and you’re like, “Are you 12 years old?,” and they’re 27, but they have that little girly voice that will never change. That’s great for someone like Nancy Cartwright, who plays Bart Simpson. You never have to worry about recasting her because her voice changed. She’s always going to be able to do it. June Foray is 93 and she can still do the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel. That’s one of those great things about women who have those kinds of voices.

When you’re using an actor who is used to being on-camera, and maybe they’re nervous about playing an icon or they’ve never done voice-over work, is there one thing that you tell them to get them going in the right direction?



ROMANO: Yes, I tell them that I will never let their voice go out sounding bad. I will work with them until their voice sounds right, until the performance sounds good and until it’s something they can be proud of. There’s absolutely no purpose for me ever to embarrass an actor by not getting the best possible performance. So, if it takes staying longer, then we’ll staying longer and work through it. There have been times where I’ve recorded an entire piece, start to finish, with an actor and they’ve said, “I have a thought. What if we were to change the voice and add 20% more rasp to it?” And I’m like, “That’s great! Let’s go back and do the whole thing again.” It’s a lot faster the second time because we’ve already worked through the beats and we understand it. But, that has happened where we’ve actually gone back and re-recorded the whole thing, and it’s better for making that change.

How does it take to be able to record the different voices, or does it just depend?

ROMANO: About a month, from start to finish. In really crunch time, we’ve done it in two weeks, but that’s really hard. The problem is that there will be an actor you really want, like Matt [Bomer], who’s so busy, but they can’t do it in the window that you have, so you extend it an extra week to get them. And he was worth waiting for. But, it’s usually about a month. When I can get ensemble recordings and get everybody together, I can do it in about two days. But, to get everybody in the room at the same time can be impossible. If they’re on hiatus, all at the same time, and they’re not on vacation in Europe or somewhere, then I can get them all together and that’s fun. For Green Lantern, I had Sinestro and Green Lantern record together. Christopher Meloni and Victor Garber were together.

Superman: Unbound will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, OnDemand and for download on May 7th. For more on the movie, here’s Dave’s review, our WonderCon panel recap, and our interview with Matt Bomer.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

First image from Justice League: Flashpoint. The release date for the movie is July 30, 2013.

Spoiler

 

[Lencho01]

The "look" kinda reminds of this...

[YT]8xs08JGX5PU[/YT]

 

[Kevin Smith]

First image from Justice League: Flashpoint. The release date for the movie is July 30, 2013.

Spoiler

Oh. My. God!! I had to take this one sitting down. That is glorious!!! Man, I can't wait to see that!!!! Looks terrific! FINALLY how I want to see The Flash look in an animated feature!! Man, I can't wait!! I just lost my ****!!! Beautiful! t: